Empire Cricket Booklet

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GOOLAM VAHED AND VISHNU PADAYACHEE

emerging in Natal from the 1890s as the result of English-language education provided by mission schools. 20 Their numbers were small because of the lack of facilities and poverty of parents; the Census of 1904 showed that only 5 211 of 100 918 Indians in Natal were literate in English. Most educated Indians were Christians, mainly Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Wesleyans/Methodists. Church missions were already established when Indians arrived in Natal. The Roman Catholic Church built a mission in Durban in 1853 under Father Sabon, who opened the first Durban school for Indian children in 1867; the Wesleyan Mission under Reverend R. Stott opened a school in 1867; while Anglicans began the St Aidan's Mission in 1884 under the Reverend Dr Lancelot Booth. 21 Reflecting the missionary hopes of the time, E. A. Hammick, Archdeacon of Durban, observed in 1901 that 'the Indian ... is very anxious to cease being an Indian and tries to become English in all ways'. 22 Prominent Christian Indian families - such as Lawrence, Gabriel, Royeppen, Lazarus, Godfrey and Sigamony - used their command of the English language to assume leadership roles in the civil service, politics, sports and education. 23 A descendent of the Lawrence family recalled that her father's strong desire to escape the 'coolie' image resulted in his giving all ten of his children a sound secular education and making them proficient in western musical instruments such as the piano, violin and saxophone. 24 Albert Christopher, another prominent member of the educated elite, pointed to the multiple identities of Indians when he argued that education should combine the best of British and Indian values by making children 'productive' like the British without losing their family values. 25 He wrote in 1914 that colonial-born Indians were 'in a state of transition from the East to the West'. To avoid becoming westernised, he wanted them to 'spend some years of their life in India, learning as much as is possible during those years of something of India, its wealth of intellectual and spiritual knowledge, its gr eatness and its resources'. 26 The St Aidan's school song, compiled by students in 1905, reflected the multiplicity of Indian identities as it stressed their loyalties to India, school, Africa, and the Empire.

Sons of Hind! rally round, join hands! Join hands in strong endeavour! In distant clime, 'mid Africa's sands.

Our College claims us forever. India's Sons where'er they be

Ne'er forget their loyalty Parted by the ocean-wave, India, still for thee we crave. Parted, yet united, we Own the bonds of loyalty Homeland, though to thee we turn, Here to find a home we learn.

The Value of Sport Indian elites, particularly educated ones, imbibed the message of colonial administrators that sport disciplined the population, entrenched a healthy value system, and taught social values such as teamwork, allegiance to fellow players, respect for rules and authority, and fortitude in the face of adversity. The colonial-born Joseph Royeppen, a gr aduate of Cambridge University, explained the ' gr eater purpose' of sport as he expressed remorse that Natal's Indians had not followed sport from the educative and instructive point of view ... It will be a sad day for sports and sportsmen when sports should be followed for 'runs' and 'goals' only, for such a day will see its final death and burial ... What a store of moral worth might have been laid up by our sportsmen for the past quarter of a century, if side by side with the training of the eye, the hand and the muscle, the graces and the virtues which impart any value to sports, and indeed justify games, had been duly regarded and developed! Here is the meaning and interpretation of the famous saying, 'the battles of England have been won on the playing fields of Eton'. As yet there are little signs of our battles being won upon our playing fields of South Africa, and the reason is not far to seek; for, so long as young men will follow sports without eye or ear to their final value for us in this our adopted land of one continued struggle for honourable existence, but merely